Metro Briefing | New York: Manhattan: Change Of Venue Is Opposed

The assault trial of a man suspected of being a top aide to Osama bin Laden should not be moved out of New York City because of the Sept. 11 terror attack, federal prosecutors have told a judge. The defendant, Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, is accused of attacking a guard in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in November 2000 while awaiting trial on terrorism conspiracy charges. The guard was stabbed in the eye with a comb made into a knife. Mr. Salim has pleaded not guilty to all charges. In their court papers, filed Monday, prosecutors rejected claims that Mr. Salim could not receive a fair trial in New York. The assault case, they wrote, ''has nothing to do with terrorism in general or the World Trade Center attack in particular.'' Benjamin Weiser (NYT)